OpenOffice or LibreOffice ?

[nivrip]

Looking for free alternative to MS Office for daughter's Windows 8 laptop.

Anyone got any views on OpenOffice or LibreOffice ?

 

[Anon_F]

OpenOffice.
But with so many varieties out there it's a hard call to make.
OO as i have it on my laptop and have got used to it.

 

[nivrip]

One other question.

Are they both COMPLETELY compatible with MS Office?

 

[Anon_F]

Depends which version of OO you use?
I know the version i use it with MS Office 2000.
Does not help much but the OO pages might help?

 

[floppybootstomp]

I much favour Libre Office. Libre Office was started by a bunch of people who broke away from Open Office when they didn't like the direction they were heading. 'Murmurs of 'uneccessarily complicated' were heard as they broke away.

I don't know the full capability of compatibility with MS Office versions but I do know for sure that MS Word & MS Excel files will open and can be saved in Libre Office. The reverse is not true though, Libre Office files can not be opened in Microsoft Office.

Microsoft Publisher files can only be opened by MS Publisher but Open Source's 'Scribus' is a close equivalent, though not so intuitive to work with imo.

Of all other compatibility, I know nothing. Not a thing. Zero. Zilch. Bugger-all.

Hope that helps

 

[nivrip]

Thanks, Flops. She really only needs the equivalent of MS Word.

Are you saying that if she creates a Word type document in LibreOffice and sends it to me that I cannot access it in my MS Word? If that is the case then it is a huge drawback.

 

[floppybootstomp]

Are you saying that if she creates a Word type document in LibreOffice and sends it to me that I cannot access it in my MS Word? If that is the case then it is a huge drawback.

Yes, that's the case I'm afraid, both Open and Libre Offices save documents with a different file extension, a different format.

 

[TriplexDread]

I use Libre

Save them as a DOCX extension they will open in Wordpad

 

[floppybootstomp]

I use Libre

Save them as a DOCX extension they will open in Wordpad

I didn't know that, I'll try and open a document in Word 2007 then which is the version I have installed within Win 7 atm.

Also just had a thought nivrip, you could install Libre Office on your Windows machine and open your daughter's files within Libre Office. It doesn't take up much room, rests easy alongside MS Office and can be easily uninstalled.

 

[nivrip]

you could install Libre Office on your Windows machine and open your daughter's files within Libre Office. It doesn't take up much room, rests easy alongside MS Office and can be easily uninstalled.

Well, that's a great idea which hadn't crossed my dumb mind.

 

[muckshifter]

Libre Office

 

[Abarbarian]

Neither !

There is a new kid in town.

http://www.kingsoftstore.co.uk/

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2495..._office_alternative_youve_never_heard_of.html

Kingsoft's suite consists of three modules: the aptly named Writer, Spreadsheets, and Presentation. They're fully file-compatible with Word, Excel, and PowerPoint; I had no trouble loading my existing documents or saving new ones in Microsoft formats.

http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/10...ngsoft-office-is-better-than-the-competition/

1: Compatibility

Kingsoft Office has a high compatibility with the de facto standard in business -- Microsoft Office. The Kingsoft suite was developed with compatibility in mind and it shows. You can open/save documents (Word, Excel, and PowerPoint) from Microsoft Office 97/2000/2003/2007/2010 (in both standard and compressed formats). But there is one caveat. Although Kingsoft Office is highly compatible with the Microsoft Office formats, it is not compatible with LibreOffice/OpenOffice default formats. You need to save those documents in the Microsoft Office format (or, say, RTF) to open them. But as for Microsoft Office compatibility, Kingsoft bests LibreOffice and OpenOffice.

Kingsoft comes as standard with Makulu which is how I came across it. I have only played with it for a few minutes but it seemed snappier than OO or LO and it has a lighter footprint which it should have as it does not have as many modules as the others.
Might be worth a looksee.

Libre Office gets more lurve from the open source world and is the favoured of choice for most of the distros.See Flop's comments on the subject.

 

[bootneck02]

Thanks for the tip AB Just downloaded Kingsoft

 

[Abarbarian]

Thanks for the tip AB Just downloaded Kingsoft

Let us know how you get on with it. I hope it does not turn out to be a turkey.

 

[nivrip]

Now had a look at Open Office, Libre Office and also KIngsoft Office. Of the three I think I prefer Kingsoft which seems more in line with MS Office than the others.

Will keep looking at them.

 

[grossy]

Both OpenOffice and LibreOffice consist of same applications and both are open source software. You can try OpenOffice.

 

[Taffycat]

I decided to download Kingsoft Office too. It looks good. A few moments ago, it updated itself and I noticed that it has a change of name:

"Kingsoft Office is now WPS Office" http://www.wps.com/